Boycott the Sham and Illegal Indianized National AnthemPosted on January 26th, 2013

Dilrook Kannangara

Reconciliation as it is (South-Indianization) has taken yet another casualty “”…” the national anthem. South-Indianization better known as reconciliation is trying to achieve what the India-LTTE collective could not achieve in the battlefield. The Rajapakse regime has been brought to its knees by Tamil Nadu leaders through India, Tamil Navi Pillay and UNHRC. Whatever Tamil Nadu leaders want from the Rajapakse regime can be demanded from their national leaders who will make sure they get it. With looming Indian national elections, their demands will increase. However, what happens with the national anthem is beyond what even Tamil Nadu people get. They can’t sing the Indian national anthem in Tamil or with Tamil verses.

In 2008 the Rajapakse clan promised India for the full implementation of 13A and now they find they can’t go back on their word. Since 2009 the regime has promised India to go beyond 13A to 13P. But the moment the meddling Indians leave our shores, the regime starts its denials. Obviously 13A stand in the way of development and peace. However, the government wants it hidden from the people. The Divineguma Bill was hindered by the Supreme Court as it violates 13A provisions. A watered down Divineguma Bill was finally passed. When the Supreme Court refused to praise the naked king’s clothes, the Chief Justice was impeached. Now there is talk about a new 19A to the Constitution as promised 13P. Obviously 19A will violate a number of Constitutional provisions particularly the 6A. That is why the government wants a yes-man as the Chief Justice so that people can be fooled once again with the passage of 19A.

Almost all the nations in the world have their national anthem in the language of its majority. It is not a jumble of various languages. A national anthem remains stable as long as a nation continues. Ananda Samarakone who composed the national anthem was an accomplished lyricist. Subject to a minor change to the anthem brought about by the change in the official name of the country, his version has continued to this date. They plan to sing the Vasudeva version of the national anthem on this Independence Day. Vasudeva is tipped to take over the Reconciliation (South-Indianization) ministry from Rajiva Wijesinghe who has utterly failed to win hearts, minds and votes of Tamils. Changing the national anthem will lead to a mockery of the anthem.

It is also illegal to sing anything else as the national anthem than what is clearly specified in the Constitution. People must not be led to violate the Constitution in a mass scale.

Article 7 of the Constitution states, [quote] The National Anthem of the Republic of Sri Lanka shall be “Sri Lanka Matha,” the words and music of which are set out in the Third Schedule. [unquote]

Schedule 7 lists out the exact words of the national anthem.

They cannot be changed arbitrarily.

If the national anthem is changed to placate India, it will be the fourth major instance of changing the national identity to appease South India. Before 1972, the official flag of the island nation was the lion flag as it was for millennia. The “Indian Stripes” of green and orange were not there in it. An unofficial version was also in use which had the “Indian Stripes”. In 1972 India insisted that Sri Lanka include the “Indian Stripes” in our national flag. At the same time, India wanted the official name of the island nation changed to Sri Lanka – a name which was never used to identify the nation. Lanka was the old Indian name used to identify the island. The flag of Fiji, Australia or New Zealand include a part of the British Union Jack which symbolises their overall monarch. Similarly the Sri Lankan flag includes parts of the Indian flag to denote Indian domination.

Two years later India again changed the national identity. The 1974 Sirima-Shasthri Pact abolished the 1948 Citizenship Act which laid down the citizenship of this independent nation. By abolishing the Act, Sri Lanka was further South-Indianized. Close to a million South Indians became Lankan citizens; some directly and other indirectly.

For serving India faithfully, Sirima was rewarded the top job at the Non Align Movement in 1976. Making use of the situation, Tamil separatists passed the Vadukoddai Resolution in 1976 while the government was prevented from taking any action due to the international spotlight on the nation.

It has come full circle now. Only difference is the present regime does it in fear of facing war crimes investigations. India has also demanded to speed up the devolution exercise and hence 19A. After this devolution exercise of sharing power with ethnic groups, Sri Lanka will look more like India and the north and east will be akin to Tamil Nadu. The South-Indianization process will be mostly complete. Tamil nationalists are over the moon. They get more than what they asked for.

An investigation launched by the Sri Lanka Army along the lines of the LLRC Report and the UNHRC resolution has exonerated the government from all allegations. Their report was recently handed over. It simply means the army will be taking the full blunt of the allegations while politicians only join the party to take credit.

Another parallel disaster is looing in the horizon. SLMC leader and the present Minister of Justice has convinced the Rajapakse regime that his relatives in Muslim countries can bail him out of war crimes allegations! As a desperate man would cling on to the last straw, the regime clings on to his promise. In return they want various concessions for them to economically, politically and religiously dominate the nation. Whatever is demanded is offered without complaining.

Paid trumpeters will be merrily playing their trumpets in praise of the Rajapakses not knowing their looming demise in another 1977-like total wipe out which will make these trumpeters either redundant or jump ship again. At the 1977 election, Tamils deserted Sirima despite all her concessions to them. Tamils have totally deserted the Rajapakses already.

What a tragedy for a nation that just emerged from 33 years of war victoriously. What more panic-stricken Rajapakse will sell out to save his skin? This is a time patriots must stay awake without blinding themselves by petty party politics. By the end of all these sell-outs, Rajapakses will look more treacherous than Ranil who to his credit refused to allow any permanent concession to India, Tamils or the extremists.

22 Responses to “Boycott the Sham and Illegal Indianized National Anthem”

Dear Dilrook – “Schedule 7 list out the exact words of the National Anthem” – Agreed.

“They cannot be changed arbitrarily” – Not agreed. Why? Have you forgotten the words of the “Architect” of this Constitutions , supported and approved by 5/6 of the United National Party? Here it is to re-awaken your memory:

“I CAN DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN TO MAKE A MAN A WOMAN AND A WOMAN A MAN”. So be please be aware there is a “I” in this statement. Please put on your thinking cap.

Following your trend of arguments, the Rajapakse Clan was good for eliminating terrorism, now that Sri Lanka is freed from that « cancer », we do not want the Rajapakse Clan any more. They have served their purpose and we should even join with the devil himself to rid the Rajapakse Clan from the Government. We can very well fall in line with the International Community and India and accuse the Rajapakse Clan for all ills. Even the former CJ Shirani Bandaranayake should be praised and her corrupt dealings to enrich her family should be whitewashed as the greater danger is the Rajapakse Clan !!

If the Rajapakse Clan were to go tomorrow, what will happen to Sri Lanka and its people is not our concern as we are living in clover, in UK, USA, Australia or France.

As for me I think differently, dear Dilrook, when I saw Sri Lanka recently, I was overwhelmingly proud of what the Rajapakse Clan had been doing to make the country so beautiful and above all peaceful.

I do not think ruling a country is an easy matter. We are what they call the arm chair critics. We do not take any responsibility, we watch others doing things and ask questions and criticise. Even in the way look at things why have we got to see all that in a negative light. We can make proposals and point out what we thing is wrong, without making our criticism helpful for those who are waiting to stop Sri Lanka from progressing.

When we say the Impeachment was not according to the Constitution it becomes a handle for the International Community, and all other Dick, Tom and Harry to magnify it prepare resolutions, against Sri Lanka, send delegation to see how things are going on, demand boycotting Sri Lanka, demand a UN Mission stationed in Sri Lanka to see how the counry is being governed.

I post something posted a few minutes ago under another thread because it is relevant here too.

Charles Perera pointed out what Vasudeva Nanayakkara had said. “…..the national anthem with Sinhala and Tamil verses would be sung at the 65th Independence Day celebration on February 4th if the President approves the proposal.”

Even if it happened it will not become the National Anthem, until it formally replaces the current one.

One of the big problems Sri Lanka faces is what I like to call “the misinformation laundering” being carried out, because of its similarity to “money laundering”.

Locally generated misinformation is picked up by various organisations that are ostensibly promoting noble causes, diplomats and make pronouncements on them as if they were facts thereby giving them the appearance of authenticity.

By the time Sri Lanka gets round to counter them they would have been propagated on major news media outlets.

The misinformation is generated locally either by local people themselves for political expediency or merely as for a living by people engaged by the organisations that call themselves NGOs and INGOs.

I am not sure whether Sri Lanka has a team charged with countering these propaganda; if there is one, it has to become very efficient at it unlike now, otherwise we will continue to witness untruths about Sri Lanka being peddled as facts.

Charles missed the point here.
international community aka LTTE+INDIA are cowards who will never touch Lanka if straight leaders like GOTa is there. But the problem in Rajapakse wetting his sarama all the time, giving way to Indianization which is what LTTEINDIA wants.

I commented first but still being moderated as follows. “Most patriots were fooled by impeachment nonsence where as the real aim was to divert the attention from scrapping 13A poison injected by Rajiv the shameless Indian.
13A fight should launch here and now.”

My position is not Rajapakse centric (pro, anti, neutral or independent of Rajapakse). It is nation centric.

The usefulness of the Rajapakse clan to the nation has drastically reduced after winning the war. This is mainly due to the visible change in their conduct. While they behave like bulls in a china shop internally, they are very meekly towards outsiders. I see a parallel with the 1970-77 Sirima Bandaranaike administration (the most unpopular of all administrations until the UNP collapse in 2004 thanks to the CFA).

There is a reason why the long and hard way must be followed on Constitutional matters. What if Chandrika disregarded the Supreme Court ruling on PTOMS and gone ahead? She would be a bigger international darlings but a hated figure locally. What if the Wickaramasinghe administration in 2002 disregarded the Supreme Court ruling and proceeded with their Conscience Bill, etc.?

This is the lawless state this nation is in thanks to the total disregard of court verdicts, the Constitution and Supreme Court interpretation of the Constitution. You have to assess the national anthem issue in this context. A minister to tell the President to again violate the Constitution is totally unacceptable. It shows the danger of the precedent set already by the President.

Consider also the fate of the Divineguma Bill which violated the Constitution on 14 counts. This also shows the total lack of regard for the Constitution. Subsequently the government did those amendments to the Bill. Why these attempts to intentionally violate the Constitution?

There is a bigger danger than making a total mockery of the national anthem. The government plans to introduce Indian style devolution via 19A which is now at initial stages. When it is put to parliament, no one will be able to challenge it.

Talking against the government on impeachment does provide ammunition to every outside meddler to interfere in the country. But it applies to Rajiwa Wijesinghe and Dayan Jayatilake, not me. They are representatives of the nation and its reconciliation process. When they criticize the impeachment, it is a grave concern for the nation. But I’m just a freelance writer and not in a position to sway international opinion. I strongly recon the government take strongest disciplinary action against both of them.

From 2005 to 2009 the government worked with the Constitution. A good example is the de-merger of the north and the east. Now the government works against the Constitution. Every lawyer, judge, MP and President has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. Habitual violation of the Constitution, denying it and still holding office is lawlessness of the worst kind because the Constitution is regarded as the supreme law of the country.

This does not mean the Rajapakse clan is totally useless. For instance the move to set up 25 vocational training university colleges is a very good move. The move to expand computer and science labs in rural schools is also commendable. However, all these achievements will be easily reversed by lawlessness at the top. It is this lawlessness at the top that has cascaded down to ministers, MPs, provincial councilors and the people.

SenaD, you are 100% correct on “misinformation laundering”. The journalists twist and turn the first sentence in an eye catching way and go on to tell lots of lies. The Colombo museum affair is a case in point. The enews and all sorts other news were concocting stories to say that President engineered this to steel swords to do some sacrifice. They even connected some patriotic senior police officers also to say that a police jeep was used for the purpose. A good friend of mine who is an eminent medical consultant also believed it and told me the same story when I returned home a few months ago. How untrue were all that informations.?

I was in Colombo in May 2009 when our gallant forces defeated the LTTE terrorist. Since then I have visited Sri Lanka twice and am proud to see the development and was able to travel all to any part of the country. But if any one think that the Rajapaksas have done their job and it is time for a change in the leadership of the country, they are sadly mistaken.

The LTTE leaders in Sri Lanka are gone,but not the ones who managed to escape. During the recent cricket matches in Sydney I was amazed to see the the young LTTE brigades openly and actively supporting the Tigers wearing the tiger T shirts. One stupid brain washed Tiger cub at the SCG chained himself to a chair and the police had to cut the chins and drag him out.They were out in numbers again at the Olympic park for the T20 on Australia day.The irony is some of them have never been to Sri Lanka and their elders are using them to achieve their goals.Obviously there are many Tiger activist in many other countries waiting for an opportunity to come back and start their campaign to take over or destroy Sri Lanka.

So what after the Rajapaksas.Obviously it will be a western sponsored regime change who will support a divided Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka is not a five star democracy and we can not afford one at the moment.Rajapaksas will have to stay for at least another decade.

Dilrook – What is wrong with is not the Constitution. What we need is a “change of mind and attitudes” towards administering the affairs of the Government. The Head of the Government must not be “arrogant”, “greedy” and suffer from “I am the Man” concept. When these qualities of a leader are identified by the followers, they make good use of to achieve their “goals” and automatically the “Leader” falls a prey. This was very well demonstrated when the Government passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution replacing the 17th Provision. The effect of it was shown on the appointment of the new CJ.

As Sarath W says, it would be a disaster to replace Rajapaksa. What we need is for Rajapaksa to realize the imminent down fall, dug by his own doings and other “vultures” around him and come out of the “mess” by working towards “good governance” deviod of curruption, nepotism, egoism, etc. This is the need of the hour. But do we see it happening? NO. Just see one example as late as yesterday. MR sends Sajin Vass Gunawardane to UK to meet with the Commonwealth Secretariat to discuss the problems arisen as a result of Canada making an attempt to change the venue of the Conference of the Heads of Government. We know very well who this man is and whole of the world knows that too. With his background as the person who busted Rs. 3 billions with the start of Mihin Lanka and his subsequent “ascendancy” in the political field, would you ever think that he is welcomed or respected in his mission. These ara the type of grave mistakes that MR is committing and that is disasterous to him and the country.

But Rajapaksa should not get the feeling that he is “indespensable”; but unfortunately he has been made to feel like that. This is what should be changed. Let the Constitution be there and it will not do any harm.

“One major issue the organization raised was the Halal Certification process for businesses and the President and the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa explained the process in detail and the reasons for the businesses to use the certification. ”

So the Sri Lanka goes Halal, unconstitutionally and illegaly forcing a minority barbaric law unto majority.
Behind , the siblings are wetting the Sarongs constantly doing everything to win votes in March at the UN.

The Sri Lankan Constitution needs replacing as it is the Constitution that gives rise to ambiguities. The ruling family seems the obvious choice to serve the nation. However, for that to happen, power vested in the ruling party must be reduced. That compels them to act in the best interests of the nation. Peace dividend must essentially flow to those who made sacrifices for the war victory, not to those who opposed it. Unless the rulers can do it, there is no rationale in keeping them in power. People must not be restricted to the present lot of politicians. They have to look for new leaders beyond the same old politicians who rotate their reign. A non-Bandaranaike is itself a change from what SLFP used to be. This process of innovation must not end here.

By their own admission, Sinhalese (who make the most noise) originate in India, so it is ludicrous for Sinhalese to complain about “Indianized” national anthem or “Indianized” anything!!! Either you are originally Indian or you are not. Time to decide one way or another based on historical and genetic evidence and verification.

The popular belief Sinhalese came from India is false as there is no scientific evidence to prove it. Positive scientific evidence is there to prove otherwise. If Sinhalese came from India (as Tamils and Moors), there should be a Sinhalese community in India. But there is no such community. No evidence of the existence of any such community ever in India. In fact ancient Indian epics recognise the Sinhalese as an unique and native community from the island of Lanka based on events (circa 1,100 BC) predating Vijaya (543BC).

Genetic similarities of the people cannot be attributable to Sinhalese coming from Indians or Indians coming from Sinhalese. It is because both groups coming from a common stock of people. These people left Africa around 45,000 or more years ago; travelled through modern Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and India to Sri Lanka. India was just one transit point. There were many transit points other than India. Attaching any specialty to India is absurd.

Anthropological evidence has been found from Sri Lanka of modern humans (not referring to Neanderthals or other previous variants) living in the island 32,000 years ago which predates that found in India.

Cultural exchanges did take place which explains the Indo-Aryan language classification of Sinhala language. It is hardly an exception. Had Sinhala not been an Indo-Aryan language, that would be an exception. All South Asian and close by nations (without exception) have an Indo-Aryan language majority including India (70%), Sri Lanka (75%), Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Iran and Maldives (100%). Asokan script has been found in Sri Lanka predating that found in India which may indicate the Asokan script may actually have been invented in Sri Lanka.

Dilrook, the theory of Sinhalese coming from North India was spread by British anthropologists to further legitimise their control on the country and create divisions between ethnic groups. It was based on the idea that Sinhala language is closer to Sanskrit than to Tamil). (By this language logic, African-Americans originate in England! Its a flawed logic). More likely is that Sinhalese are a mix of groups from India, native Yakka and the wider region. The ancient Immigrant group from Africa via Arabia and India is the J group. That is just one. The C group was already in Sri Lanka island hopping DIRECTLY from Africa and some of them went onto India (Adivasee/tribals), Andaman Islands, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Australia (Aborigines), Pacific Islands, Japan and USA (native American) etc. Sinhalese maybe as much related to people of these nationalities. Then mitschondrial (female lineage) of almost all Sri Lankans is probably more indigenous than “Indo anything”. The R group (rare here) is related to groups outside our region, Central Asia, Europe and Afghanistan and is more common in North India especially some Brahmins (Rahul Gandhi is a Brahmin), than SL. Poweful Bramins often opposed Buddhism. Genetics is giving a different angle on the Sinhalese-Indian thesis. No doubt some powerful Sinhalese families ARE Indian, eg Bandara Nayakkar (Bandaranaike) (South Indians), Bikram Singhe (Wickremasinghes – perhaps?) but less so the common person.

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